AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Automatic Location

An automatic location is much like a script runner. But there's a significant difference. A script runner finds compiled script files in a prearranged location and offers you an interface so that you can run them when you want to. An automatic location is a place where an application finds compiled script files and runs them automatically, with no intervention on your part. The application runs the script when it wants to—typically in reponse to the occurrence of certain events or stimuli. This doesn't mean you've no involvement, though; you were involved when you arranged for the application to find this script in this location, or to look for it in response to this particular event or stimulus.

BBEdit is an example. I've mentioned (in the previous section, "Script Runner") that BBEdit will use a menu to let you run scripts it finds in a Scripts folder within ~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/. BBEdit looks for two additional folders in that location—Startup Items and Shutdown Items. These are repositories for scripts that BBEdit will run automatically in response to being launched and being quit, respectively. Similarly, when you choose from any of BBEdit's built-in menus, BBEdit will run an appropriately named script located in the Menu Scripts folder. Now, all these scripts and folders did not come into existence by themselves; you put them there. But once you've done that, since these are automatic locations, BBEdit runs the scripts automatically when the ...